How Marketing is Adjusting to the Shift in Social Media Following Trends
Recently, a meme made its way around social media. Stop following the filtered Instagram models, it admonished, and start following luminaries and intellects — people that have more intellectual power. This recommendation is a reflection of a shift in social media behaviors, and it’s one that marketers would do well to monitor and adjust their strategies as such. Keeping abreast of consumer behavior shifts is one way that marketers can stay in tune with their audiences. For example, much of the language, particularly among millennial-aged consumers, is now shifting more to self-care and acceptance. Now, brands are becoming more inclusive in their marketing, striving not to alienate any groups of consumers who have felt silenced in years past. How does…
Read MoreDoes Uber Have Another Communications Crisis on its Hands?
Earlier this month, Uber was forced to confront some grim —and very public — news: the ride-hailing giant had lost $5.24 billion in the last three months, Uber’s largest-ever quarterly loss. Uber shares plunged by 10% in response. Uber’s underwhelming financial performance has long disappointed investors, and last month the company was forced to announce cuts of 400 jobs from its marketing team in a bid to get costs under control. This latest loss was largely due to stock-based compensation off the back of a huge charge related to Uber’s Wall Street listing in May and was just more piece of bad press for the car service firm amid years of recurring PR crises. News this week, then, that a…
Read MoreStarbucks Just Released (a Version of) Its Design Playbook: Here’s What We Learned
Marketing and branding take immense skill, there is no doubt about it. Creating timeless branding is challenging because there are countless trends that can be used at any given moment. How then does a brand select a branding style that won’t leave when trends go away? How does a brand stand the test of time? One of the clear leaders in the branding field, from a longevity standpoint, is in fact Starbucks. Since the coffee giant’s founding in 1971, the iconic green symbol with a long-haired siren is recognizable regardless of whether or not you get down with a pumpkin spice latte. So what is it about the Starbucks brand that has withstood the test of time brought about by…
Read MoreThe Politics of Preseason Communication
The NFL preseason is one of the most grueling stretches in all of athletics. Teams bring nearly twice as many players to camp as they will keep on the active roster, so competition is fierce and emotions are high. That means there are also a ton of compelling stories, so reporters and broadcasters are on high alert for any nugget of breaking news. Combine that intensity with a bunch of keyed-up players and coaches, many of whom have limited experience with the press, and you have a recipe for communication chaos. To avoid this, teams need to have clearly articulated plans about who talks to the press (and when), as well as what is or is not said to the…
Read MoreDuck! Now, What?
The sad and recent tragic mass shootings in two U.S. cities may have caused many folks to not only re-examine their position on firearms and gun control but also how they might react if a similar incident happened to them and their family. What goes through a person’s mind when a crisis involving them suddenly and unexpectedly occurs? Public relations professionals should also be asking themselves some questions if an incident occurred involving numerous deaths and their company directly or indirectly. Here are three possibilities we hope will never occur but for which PR people need to be prepared. They should be considered so you’re not caught totally off-guard and left behind in the media frenzy of what some are…
Read MoreWhat’s New, Pussy Cat?
Remember this 1965 movie? It received mixed reviews when it debuted, in part because it focused on male sex addiction and was considered tasteless by some critics. Yet, the movie received an Academy Award nomination for best song and still another nomination for best-written screen comedy from the Writers Guild of America. Business and marketing have been accused by some critics as being unethical in exaggerating claims to encourage people to buy products they don’t need. Instances like this are what led to the formation of organizations like the Ethical Corporation, a group formed to promote discussion about purpose-driven business. What Does All This Have To Do With My Company? Today’s businesses and marketing environment are going through tremendous changes…
Read MorePull vs. Push: How Consumer Marketing Communications Make a Difference
We often refer to the concepts of pull and push marketing. For those unfamiliar, these concepts deal with the overall strategy of a marketing professional and how they approach and engage with customers. On one hand, the pull approach encourages consumers to come to the brand. Examples of this approach include promoting sales or deals to consumers, capitalizing on loyalty by offering rewards, and using influencers to create more of a demand and following for the product or service being promoted.
Read MoreThe Growing Pay Gap Between Journalism and Public Relations
Most people aren’t aware that journalists and public relations professionals share a number of mutual goals like communicating with the public, building trust, and sharing stories. Yet in spite of the similarities, there’s a growing gap in pay between these two professions. Why is that so? For one, there’s been a steady decline in the number of newspapers in the United States. In 1970, there were 1,748 daily newspapers. By 2016, the number had dropped to 1,286. The number of public relations professionals working in PR agencies alone at the end of 2016 was 58,489. And that didn’t include those working for corporations, associations and other organizations.
Read MoreAvoiding Gimmicks in Marketing: Why It Matters
Surely, every marketing professional has at some point in their career overheard the phrase, “seems like a gimmick to me.” Heavily used both by skeptical consumers as well as marketers themselves, the idea of the “gimmick” describes a cheap or tacky attempt at marketing a product or service. And there are times when the gimmick has worked.
Read MoreKardashians: Queens of Social Media
If you cast your mind out and try to think of a group of people who seem to have mastered every aspect of social media and the creation of a brand online, you surely don’t have to think too long until you land on a single, era-defining clan: the Kardashians. While the family did not get their initial shot at fame through social media, they have undoubtedly managed to stay relevant through their social media presence. Each sister has grabbed hold of their individual success and translated it into a means of commerce, whether it be a range of products, lifestyle apps, brand deals or models.
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